Home Made 35 mm Film

Many of you may know that in the past year I have been working on making the 35 mm cine film that was available to Oscar Barnack when he invented the Leica camera. Last year was the centennial of the announcement of the Leica and while I didn’t quite make that, my wife and I will be going to Wetzlar Germany this June (2026) to demonstrate the film we make, formula MO-1925. Along the way we were also made custodians of an extremely rare roll fo film shot by Barnack in 1914 for our research. We’ll be presenting that roll to the Leica Museum when we’re there in June.

Here is a nice comparison of a frame from the Barnack 1914 roll … and a frame taken last week from a batch of film I made. Note too that the Barnack film was made by Kodak here in Rochester. We were gifted the vintage Bell & Howell perforator which has the same B&H shaped holes.

Here are a couple of frames from film I shot in Doha, Qatar in January (2026). They were shot in a 1928 Leica I camera with film I made like the fine grain film available in the mid to late 1920s. This is roughly ISO 8-12. Hard to pinpoint since it is only blue violet sensitive. Not isochromatic / orthochromatic

Very nice! Is the original on nitrate or acetate stock? What are you using for MO-1925? Good to see the B&H perfs. Looking forward to your updates! So in 1914 Barnack would have needed to load the camera in a darkroom or something similar because the Leica magazines came much later, is this the case???
Best Regards Mike




Interesting link to a bit of Bell and Howell history

For a year now I’ve been working on a special project; making the same type 35 mm cine film that was used by Oscar Barnack for his prototype Leica camera. It was originally sourced through Eastman Kodak based on the early B&H sprocket holes. I was lucky that Eastman Kodak gifted us an original B&H perforator and along with our exPolaroid film coating machine and slitter we’ve made, exposed and developed film that seems to be on the money. For the past year we were also made custodians of an original roll of film shot by Barnack in 1914, invaluable for our research.

In June we go to Leica Company in Wetzlar Germany to demonstrate our film in a 1928 Leica I camera. We will also donate the Barnack film the Leica Museum. Shown here are a comparison frame of the Barnack roll showing children with wooden guns during the first world war … and a frame of my film shot last week for comparison.

I’ve been following your project on Facebook, and am fascinated by it. Incredible work. Are there any plans beyond the demo in Wetzlar?